What Mom Doesn't Know
by obsessedatopia
Summary: More than one person in The Adams Foster house is struggling with keeping secrets. Lena wrestles with telling Stef the truth about Brandon, both Stef and Dani are out of their comfort zone as they are forced into small talk and Jesus tries to sell the bed without Stef finding out. Two-Shot from the lighter side of Mother! (Missing Scenes Two-Shot Spoilers up to 2x06)
1. What Mom Doesn't Know

**OK guys - I'm a little uncertain about this one but thought I'd post anyway. As far as one-shots from Mother go there are many highly emotional opportunities...but I couldn't find it in me to write one (still heartbroken)! Maybe one day, but right now I did think there was some space around the fluffy half of the episode and even though that wasn't enough for a fic in itself I also really wanted to write about Lena's thoughts as she told Stef about the pot...and why she stopped short of telling her about Dani. I am sure this was just a logistical choice so that it wasn't too much in the episode (and I'm glad for that so that it gets the focus it deserves) but I did want to try and put it into rationale. Between the two ideas I think there's a two-shot here. Anyway, sorry if it's not my best but who knows, maybe someone will like it! Chapter 1 focusses on bed and how Stef and Dani communicate along with some thoughts from Lena and then Chapter 2 will focus on Lena telling Stef about the pot.**

**Anyhow, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"Jesus..." Stef smiled sternly as she wandered through the hallway. Her eyes were looking possessed with a mixture of agitation and confusion as the young boy emerged sheepishly from the girls' room. Before he could get a word in Stef's hands were firmly on her hips and her eyebrows low over her eyes.

"Would you care to tell me why there is an elderly Korean couple trying to buy half our bed?" She asked pleasantly, though the venom behind it was no secret. Jesus was about to respond before his brain caught up with what she had actually said, the specifics acting as a distraction.

"Wait, they only want half?"

"Jesus!" Stef snapped with a whisper as he shook his head back to attention.

"Half? Watch out Ikea - there's a new furniture king in town." Mariana bobbed out sarcastically with her arms crossed.

"It's half more than you would have managed to sell." He bit back before Stef tugged on his shoulder, turning him towards her room.

"The way you two are going with this fighting we'll include you alongside the bed! Mama is on bedrest and trying to keep her stress levels down. Does this look like a furniture store to you?" The frustration was now sneaking past her menacingly peaceful façade.

"No but it doesn't look like a hospital either." Jesus shrugged, Stef's eyes quickly alerting him to the fact the comment hadn't been welcome.

"Well it's definitely not a carehome for elderly."

"Well another year or two and-"

"If you want to live to get anywhere _near_ elderly you will not finish that sentence and get them out, now!"

"But Mom, you said I could sell the bed - Mama told me it was fine for -"

"Well I'm telling you that I want that bed empty by the time I bring Mama back to it - no more customers today. Now is not the time."

"But -"

"Now. Cancel the rest for today and get them out." She growled, patting him harshly towards her door which he returned with a groan. Mariana wandered after with a smirk before quickly shedding it on cue from Stef's look. She shook her head towards them before striding into the girls' room where Lena was waiting for her turn for a lecture.

"You didn't even bring the airhorn?" Stef threw her a look scanning her bedside table and at a loss for what other words to say. Her voice was damning but it was clear from her eyes that any frustration was from a place of pure love and concern.

"Stef, that airhorn will scare this baby out if it goes off one more time - will you relax?" She giggled, not wanting to spare any energy entertaining her wife's paranoia. "And what do you want from me? I _am_ in bed - it's just a different bed."

"I want you to stop trying to tell me to relax when you are the one who's meant to be relaxing. I need to check your blood pressure anyway so let's get you back..." Stef placed her hands behind her wife, urging her up. "And I also would like to be able to declare how sexy my wife is without risking it being to a family of strangers."

"You don't like telling strangers I'm sexy?" Lena teased as Stef squinted back. They held the look for a moment before Lena cocked her head to the side, seeing from Stef's rigid pose that she wasn't going to back down.

"Honey, I told them it was fine."

"And I'm telling you it isn't..." Stef insisted as Lena's eyebrows shot up with a warning.

"I'm doing it again aren't I?" she sighed, closing her eyes as Lena confirmed with a small smile.

"Well just consider it payback for when I got shot." she grumbled in addition, helping Lena off the bed.

"Oh if you want payback for how bad a patient you were I should be going for a run around the neighbourhood right now." she poked her. "And sweetheart, as much as I love your hands all over me, you don't have to carry me to our bedroom." she smirked as Stef eased off the hold she had her around her before dropping her voice down again in stern warning.

"I _could_ carry you, you know. Don't push me, young lady." she replied, a smile finally emerging on her lips. Lena wished she would believe her that small gestures of normality like that worked to relax her more than any demands.

* * *

Mariana paced briskly towards the door. She was fed up of being ridiculed and even more fed up of being used as an unintentional wingman for her brother's hook ups.

"You totally asked for that you know." Jesus walked behind her, emerging from the kitchen.

"Well you are totally asking for an STD the rate you're ploughing through girls." She shot back, the subject of their argument forever to-ing and fro-ing from whatever subject was closest at hand.

"Nice. Good to know you think so much of your friends." Jesus rolled his eyes as they were interrupted by the doorbell.

"It'd be good to know if you thought at all before hopping into bed with someone" she opened the door to find Dani standing before her, Mike just behind.

"Well that's an interesting greeting." Mike commented, wide eyed, as Dani shuffled her hands nervously around a casserole dish.

Mariana stood, blushing pink with embarrassment as Jesus shook his head and walked off.

"Sorry we uhm.."

"Probably best you don't explain." Mike held his palm up with a chuckle as Mariana dipped her head in embarrassment before opening the door for them to enter.

"I'll go get Moms." Marina hesitated towards the stairs before turning back.

"Thanks." Dani smiled clutching at the dish. Mariana adjusted her shirt running up the stairs. She wasn't sure how Stef would take to guests based on their last encounter.

"Hey, Mike and Dani are here." She poked her head in as Stef gaped down to the bed before poking Lena in the arm.

"OK, stay! Rest, you." She hopped up as Mariana smirked gently in sympathy with Lena. She was someone who generally indulged being spoiled, but even Mariana could remember how overbearing Stef could be at times, especially when stressed. Lena was too distracted to even notice as she watched them both leave. With all of the recent developments she had pushed a particular subject to the back of her mind, but with Mariana's announcement it had just come crashing back.

Dani.

Sighing heavily she leaned back against the headrest. She hadn't reflected much on her talk with Brandon the day before. It had been a surreal day. Experimenting with pot was nothing she hadn't expected to happen with one of them at some point. She had obviously hoped that they wouldn't, but she was at least encouraged at his response. Their afternoon together had been refreshing, for the most part. It was rare she got to spend any one on one time with Brandon. Part of her was glad for the experimentation, she knew that he never would have admitted his liaison with Dani without it, or at least he would have been torturing himself even longer before it had come out.

His confidence in her was not without its difficulties though, she now found herself in an impossible situation. The only blessing her illness had given her was at least an excuse to prolong deciding how she would tell Stef - though there was no doubt in her mind that she would have to, or at least persuade Brandon to. She was a mandatory reporter and what's more, she and Stef had only recently tackled their last bout of miscommunication. She had no intention of returning to more distance between them. The problem was approach - something she had happily taken the excuse to delay. Hearing Dani's name had been a crushing reminder, however. This was not going away and sooner or later she needed to address it.

* * *

Stef had greeted her guests downstairs via a small altercation with Jesus who appeared to be lurking around the front door. She had reminded him in no uncertain terms about potential visitors, but he had insisted he was just there to turn away any stragglers who had not received the cancellation. It was now just her and Dani left in the kitchen. Mike had gone up to see Lena and Brandon had run off as soon as he had the opportunity. This was the second time she had noticed Brandon having a less than pleasant attitude regarding Dani. She watched her as she began to prepare a salad, pulling out the ingredients from her bag. She had been nervous around her ever since finding out about the money she gave Brandon. Even before that she had always found her a little direct and a little forceful, their exchange the night in itself before had been unsettling enough. Her nervousness definitely wasn't a jealousy thing, at least not over Mike. She had considered if it could be jealousy over a mother for Brandon, but his recent attitude certainly indicated no closeness to Dani. One thing she was sure of however was that she wanted to set a good example for Brandon. Here she was, catering for them at their time in need and deserved some respect for that.

That didn't help make the small talk come any easier though.

"So..." Stef began, desperately scraping for a subject. "Lasagne? Nice."

"It's a special recipe." Dani replied with a smile. "Plus I know it's Brandon's favourite. Not that I imagine it will compare to yours and Lena's."

Stef nodded back. "Well Lena is the lasagne specialist - I'm sure yours is wonderful though." She almost winced at the sickly superficial sentiment of her own words. Stef was not a pleasantries person - she always had another thought or joke in her mind and had only recently learned to train herself out of saying it. Most of the time. She tried to think of anything she knew about Dani. They'd only had one conversation recently and that was definitely one she didn't want to bring up now knowing the truth of Mike's activities. There were only two other things she associated her with. Drinking and dogs.

"So how did you get into the dog walking business?" She blurted out, Dani turned, surprised. She was about as keen to make smalltalk as Stef was, especially after the way Brandon had reacted regarding her seeing Lena. He had been at breaking point two nights previous and now he wanted to keep her from Lena. If she knew...but then Stef would know and that couldn't be the case - if she did she was pretty sure she wouldn't be standing there now, but at the same time, Stef was a cop and probably knew when something was troubling her son...and if Lena knew she wouldn't be hiding it from her. No. She was overthinking. Seeing Stef was still waiting for an answer she shook her head and forced her best smile.

"It just grew from doing it for some pocket money, I guess." She nodded, focussing on chopping up some cucumber. Stef edged her hands along the countertop, feeling her automatic awkwardness reactions initiating.

"Must be some real bitches in that industry." She added before she could stop herself. As expected it was met with a blank look.

"Sorry, that was a terrible -"

"It's fine -" Dani cut off her backpedalling, waving a hand. "I was just trying to figure out if you meant the dogs or the owners." She tried to ease the mood, even though both of them just found themselves giving half-hearted chuckles at a loss for where next to go next. A glaring silence followed before Dani removed a carrot from the bag. Stef was quick to take advantage of the opportunity.

"Peeler, you'll need a peeler." She leaped up, quick to the drawer before Dani could acknowledge it. Soon enough it was thrust into her hand. She received it with a smile as Stef leaned over across the table.

"Brandon!" She exclaimed with joy, seeing the distraction arrive but causing Dani to jump slightly.

"Just passing through." He added, exchanging another brief look with Dani whose peeling speed increased. Part of Stef wanted to grab him and force him to take her place but he was already out of the door before she had the chance.

"Sorry about him. Teenagers, you know?" She shrugged, trying to hide that the red flags were flying.

"He's fine." Dani replied, her hands tightening around the peeler in her hand. Stef nodded slowly with the reaction. She had dismissed it very naturally, as if this really was the norm for them. It got her wondering about those evenings at Mike's and whether this indifference was a new thing.

"Do you two spend much time together?" Stef asked, catching Dani by surprise. "Alone time?"

Dani looked up, trying to prevent her cheeks flushing red.

"As I said yesterday, Mike's been back and forth..." She stuttered. She had to remind herself that it was unlikely there was an agenda behind her questioning but it didn't stop her heart from hopping into her throat. For all of her powers to swing a conversation to her favour, it was harder when she wasn't in control of it.

"He doesn't tend to stay if his Dad's not there. I understand that, of course. He's had a difficult few months." Stef nodded, taking it in and thinking it through. It was true. She couldn't blame him if it was that though she did want to make sure he was aware of not being rude.

"Well as long as I don't have to kick anyone's ass." Stef added plainly with a smile as Dani gasped with a shot of pain as the peeler nipped her skin.

"Oh, here, let me help you with - "

"It's fine, I've got it. It's not even bleeding." Dani raised her hand between them before they were rescued with Mike's return. Both women heaved a sigh of relief, as big grins plastered their face.

"How's she doing?" Stef asked immediately, happy for the subject change.

"Well, it seemed. She's in good spirits! How you getting on?" he looked to his girlfriend who had returned from her minor setback.

"Just have to grate this carrot." She nodded as Mike looked between them.

"Do you have time for a talk before we go?" He looked to Stef who paused for a moment but weighed up her options. Ultimately she and Mike did have things to discuss and what's more she didn't really want to spend much more time in the kitchen.

"Sure." She nodded, turning to the door.

"I'll just catch you up when I've finished." Dani replied, granting her blessing as Mike looked for her approval. She watched them leave taking a deep breath and leaning against the worktop. She had to hold herself together. Brandon wouldn't tell. He couldn't tell. He was a teenager and teenagers were easy to sway. She just had to hope he could trust that this was the best way for everyone - and if not, make him believe it.

**OK - any thoughts welcome. I am not sure if this worked or not but hell, here is it! I kinda really wanted some awkward Dani/Stef and I must admit that I really wanted more of Stef's exasperation regarding bed so I had to put that in. Anyhow, will post chapter 2 tomorrow. Would love some feedback if you have time!**

* * *

_**Next Chapter Preview: Lena wrestles with how much of the truth to share with Stef**_

_**"The park? Was that where they were rehearsing?"She queried as Lena stroked her arm, now trying to lose her gaze anywhere other than her wife's eyes. **_

_**"I'm not sure it really counted as a rehearsal." she began as Stef's eyebrows shot up. **_

_**"It would seem that rehearsals at the woodshed are more for creativity." She paused. "Inspired by the brownie variety."**_


	2. Can't Hurt Her

**OK Guys, thanks for the reviews for yesterday's chapter. Glad you liked it! As I say it's one I was a bit disappointed with for many reasons but I've agonised way too much about how to improve it so here it is anyway! I hope you enjoy. I am piecing together a Mother one with the more challenging content in my head so maybe I'll post that soon if it makes it to paper! Thanks for reading and your support as always.**

* * *

Jesus looked at his watch and into the house through the window. He had been trying to catch potential clients, but not to turn them away, more to stall them for the opportune moment. He wasn't sure how much of his current companion, Dr. Aaron Davis Junior (or so he had been prompted 3 times), he could take. He had already given him in depth technical descriptions of the surveillance camera he had recently purchased and his view on 3 different conspiracy theories regarding the government accessing it to spy on his street. This did seem a good sale opportunity, however. He seemed gadget mad and based on his people skills Jesis didn't imagine he would be using the bed for anything other than sleeping.

"I am concerned about how long we have had to wait out here. Your mother not wanting to grant potential buyers access to the product is concerning." Aaron interrupted his spying as Jesus placed his hands out towards him.

"My Mom is kind of erratic, she flips from one extreme to the other...kind of Jeckyll and Hyde-y" he exaggerated, trying to think fast.

"Is that a medical condition? Does she have a psychological diagnosis?" Aaron raised his eyebrow as Jesus stuttered, desperate not to dig any further.

"Trust me, it'll all be cool." He avoided answering. "Just a second longer." He added, trying to keep him at bay before noticing he was scribbling down notes on a piece of paper.

He checked again through the window and could see that Mike had joined Stef and Dani in the kitchen. That would mean that Lena was free and he would have to get his visitor up before Stef saw them out.

"I think we're good to go now, it just may be best not to talk on the way up." He warned. "As I said, my Mom can be a little up and down."

The man squinted, making another note on his paper, something Jesus tried to read but the scrawl was illegible.

He followed his instruction as Jesus indicated up the stairs, tip-toeing behind and keeping an eye on the door. As he readjusted his focus he spotted that Aaron had already disappeared but before he had a chance to process. Stef and Mike emerged from below.

"You manage to keep the visitors away?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"Of course." He replied, his eyes popping with guilt as Stef eyed him.

"What visitors?" Mike asked, curiously.

"Bed clients." Stef stated, folding her arms.

"Oh really? I didn't know you were straying into that kind of business." Mike teased as Stef slapped his arm with a deathly glare, their more urgent points of interest waning for the chance of some relief.

"First off, that's gross and secondly no - Moms are selling their robot bed, though somehow they want me to do it without actually letting me sell the bed."

"Oh stop complaining, Jesus - you can last a day or two more without your money."

"Mom, you've got no business brain." he replied, his annoyances superseding his guilt. "Sale works best on demand and -"

Her eyes gave a warning just before a harried shout from Lena of _"Jesus, a word please?"_ caught his attention. He tossed a desperate look between them as Stef's eyebrow raised before he quickly ran up the stairs with a fluffed excuse. Despite knowing that the shout had probably been enough to give him away, he raced across the landing to try and contain the situation as best as possible. This better be damn good commission.

* * *

Stef closed the front door behind her, having said goodbye to Mike and Dani. She paused for a moment, not sure whether it would be her that next ended up in bed with a high blood pressure problem. It felt like more and more was being thrown at them these days.

She padded up the stairs, rubbing her face as she heard a sigh coming from inside the girls' bedroom.

Poking her head round the door, her jaw dropped in annoyance before Lena held her hand out.

"Don't even bother." She warned her as Stef folded her arms, exasperated, but snapping her mouth shut.

"That boy is going to be getting zero commission if he doesn't start doing what he's told." Stef vented as Lena put her arm out beckoning her towards her.

"Honey, he's doing exactly what he was told - and the sooner it goes, the less we have to worry about strangers invading our space. If you're giving him such a hard time, no wonder he's telling strangers you have a personality disorder."

"He's telling people what?" Stef's eyes bulged with a moment of hysteria as Lena patted the bed. Apparently the two minutes that Jesus had Aaron loose in the house had been two minutes too long.

"Honey." Lena silenced her firmly. "Can you just come lie here with me? The best way for you to keep me from stress right now would be to let go of some of your own." She cocked her head as Stef swayed to the door. Momentarily she considered finding her son to give him a piece of her mind but she ended up relenting as Lena's begging eyes hooked hers. With a deep sigh she bounced over and swung herself next to her wife while Lena cuddled up, brushing her arm.

"I don't think we've ever shared a single bed before!" She whispered.

"Yeah...boy does this take me back to high school."

"Oh really?" Lena's eyebrows popped up as Stef suddenly blushed pink.

"Not like I was some Casanova or something...and you know that you were my first time with a woman - " She quickly backtracked as Lena shook her head and squeezed her arm.

"Sweetheart - "She prompted her. "Will you _please _just relax."

Stef sighed again, patting Lena's arm. "I'm sorry, love. I'm just not good with bedrest...whether it's mine or someone else's."

"I've noticed." Lena mocked as Stef flashed her a brief look of offence before it was replaced with a smile. As she finally surrendered to the soft caress of Lena's touch, she closed her eyes with a deep draw of breath, attempting to enjoy the moment. There had been so much on her mind recently she tried to push it aside and take advantage of the comforting silence. It sent her to a more peaceful place, lost in the dreams of the life they were still building. Here she was, lying in tranquility with the love of her life, a piece of their shared heart growing within her womb.

She took her hands up to the necklace draped over her chest and softly patted Lena's knee.

"You know that we haven't talked about baby names?"

Enjoying the turn of conversation, and especially pleased it had come from Stef, Lena bore her glistening teeth. It was an involuntary reaction when she thought of their growing family, but even more so she felt blessed to have this moment, a topic she had almost forgotten to bring up herself among the crazy turns of recent events. There were these special details which were theirs to share even if there were barely enough minutes in the day to spare for them.

"I was kind of thinking we could...we could name her after your dad" She whispered back gently as Stef turned to her in horror.

"Frank?! Well that's a good way to scar her for the rest of her life!" Her eyes popped, prompting a giggle and a tut from her wife. Clearly, despite her efforts, Stef's head hadn't reached the same level of clarity.

"Francesca." She clarified. "And then we could call her _Frankie_."

Stef's face grew pensive as she considered the possibility. She thought back to the day this baby had first been brought to her mind and the poetry of linking her to the memory of her Dad..

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. What do you think?" Lena prompted as Stef's mouth twitched into a smile.

"I think I love it." She replied softly, feeling lulled by the sudden serenity. Lena watched her, only able to indulge the harmonious joy for a moment. Stef had finally calmed and although part of her wanted not to stir her from it, she knew that just as those peaceful moments had to be found for the happy thoughts, so did the ones for the harder topics. This was an opportunity she promised she would take advantage of should it arise and she knew she had to honour that - at least to split some of the weight.

Gently stroking her wife's shoulder she took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge.

"So there's something I need to tell you."

Stef turned her head to the ceiling, unable to fully catch Lena's face. Deep down she could almost tell that this bliss would be shortlived.

"About?" She replied, still hanging onto a glimmer of hope that it would be something mundane. her hope was dashed as soon as Lena responded.

"Brandon."

Stef turned her head, bracing herself.

"What about him?" She asked, her head rapidly filling up again.

Lena bit her lips together, sucking them out as she tried to think of her phrasing. She decided to start with the easier revelation, that would give her more time to judge Stef's temper. She didn't want to keep anything from her but she was still going to take this a step at a time in case she needed to resort to spreading it out.

"I didn't really get a chance to tell you yesterday because of everything that happened, but I had to go and pick Brandon up from the park." She tried to keep her voice smooth, playing with the material of Stef's sweater.

"The park? Was that where they were rehearsing?"She queried as Lena stroked her arm, now trying to lose her gaze anywhere other than her wife's eyes.

"I'm not sure it really counted as a rehearsal." she began as Stef's eyebrows shot up.

"It would seem that rehearsals at the woodshed are more for creativity." She paused. "Inspired by the brownie variety."

Stef sat up briskly as Lena pulled her back down, she was determined not to completely reverse her efforts of the last few minutes.

"You're not serious?" The movement had worked to reposition her angle but had no effect on her temper. "He lied to me to go get high in the woods?"

"Before you freak out..." Lena tapped a pattern on Stef's chest to silence an imminent protest. "I don't think Brandon knew it was that until he got there. He was pretty shaken up and called me to come and collect him as soon as he started to trip."

"Well yeah, that tends to happen when you're dumb enough to eat a pot brownie!" she scolded even though their son wasn't there to hear it.

"Yeah but calling your Mom doesn't always happen." Lena defended him as Stef's mouth flapped, trying to find a disagreement. She surrendered with a sigh, rubbing her face. "That's true."

Lena watched her every movement, biting down on her lips as Stef processed the information.

She could feel the next part brewing but couldn't get Brandon's words out of her mind. He was so scared and so desperate - but then Stef _had_ to know, Mike was talking about babies and she saw the look of fear in Brandon's face that he had met her with. It was their job to protect him and clearly they had already failed once.

"How bad was he?" she was rocked back to reality with Stef's voice, having to blink her dilemma to the side.

"He uhm..." she stuttered trying to pull back. "Not good at all. Probably enough to scare him off ever doing it again." she reassured her as Stef nodded, glad that at least her _genes_ had already been able to teach him a lesson.

"Yeah well, been there. I wasn't smart enough to call my Mom and ended up having a complete freak out to a total stranger." The memory seemed to be working to lull her, something which Lena immediately took advantage of.

"Well he wasn't the most coherent I've heard him." Lena sniffed out a laugh, some of the lighter exchanges managing to push out the others.

"I hope you managed to remember every dumb thing he said so that we can torture him with the story every time we meet a new girlfriend." Stef commented, deadpan. "And I love that he called _you_..." she added with snark before quickly clarifying in a softer tone. "I mean, I _do_ love that he called you...but I notice he didn't dare call me." Lena bit down on her lip shrugging her shoulders.

"He was pretty sure you'd just yell at him, I'm not sure he was in a state to cope with that."

"Hm." Stef scoffed, trying to consider how it was she would have reacted. "Well I guess he may have been right...to some extent at least." She rubbed her face. "And I'm guessing that would have been wrong..." She turned to Lena, checking her approval. In truth, she didn't know. she probably wouldn't have been able to yell at him if he had been too worked up - not until later at least, but by then she would have calmed anyway. She knew it needed to be addressed firmly though. They'd obviously been doing something right with Brandon for him to call Lena up, but then the other choices he'd made recently were all swaying towards more discipline being needed.

"I think he probably needs a balance." Lena's snatched away Stef's thoughts as if she had been reading them. "He does need to be able to process these decisions but I'm not sure yelling and screaming at him will do any good if he'll just get defensive before fully understanding..." she slowed, a wash of realisation running through her. As she looked down into Stef's eyes she could see that this revelation had been manageable, probably as she had expected. She was clearly disappointed and upset but at least it was an understandable misdemeanour. This would be nothing like the anger, hurt and disgust with which she would take the other news. Suddenly she felt the choice of where to go next being made for her. Part of her knew this had to come from Brandon - she had been able to discuss the pot situation with him before he faced Stef, he had been able to think things through. There was still guiding and thinking to be done with this one, and in reality, Brandon being confident enough to face his fears would probably be the healthiest way to proceed. Stef flying off the handle before he had grasped the need to include her himself would do no-one any favours.

"So - what are we thinking?" Stef asked, her turn to interrupt. Lena cleared her throat, making her choice.

"Well I don't want him to feel he can't come to us in the future - I think you should talk to him now and you addressing it will be enough to give him a fright, along with a warning so he doesn't do it again." Lena tried to find her rationale, abiding by her decision that this would be a two stage process.

"So we don't ground him at all?" Stef raised an eyebrow as Lena searched through whether her concern for Brandon's other situation was clouding her judgment. As her mind swayed she shook her head firmly.

"I think that he deserves a second chance."

Stef mulled it over, fiddling her necklace over her bottom lip. Part of her was furious, part of her was disappointed and the mischievous part of her almost wished she'd been there to see it. She knew that this was no joke though. The last time Brandon had strayed the consequences had been life threatening, but to counteract that, a balance was needed. This was one she knew they could meet part way.

"In that case I'm going to make it clear that this happens again, or anything like it, and his rockstar days are over."

"Take the band from him?" Lena's eyebrows dipped down, tugging at her heart as she thought back to those days before he had found this recent oasis and how desperate he had been, not to mention how troubled he currently was.

"Honey, I don't like it any more than you but Brandon made some terrible, terrible choices. We have to be able to threaten him where it hurts or he risks getting into even worse situations. _If you only knew. _Lena thought as she blinked down, understanding Stef's point. Ultimately it wouldn't matter anyway, she had a feeling the game would be changed within the next few days regardless.

"Well that's fine with me, then." She agreed as Stef turned to kiss her head.

"I guess I better go and scare him a little, time for bad cop." She rolled out of her position to perch on the edge of the bed.

"Now, you don't move until this bed saga is sorted. No more back and forth. I'll not stop them from bringing in any more but I'll show him split personality when he sees my haggling demon come out." She patted Lena's arm as she was greeted with a nod. At least if anything, this conversation had apparently calmed her over-protectiveness.

Lena watched her as she strode out of the room, taking a deep breath. She would talk to Brandon and give him a couple more days - but that was all. If it didn't work she wasn't going to hide it for much longer.

**Well there you go, hope someone liked it! Drop a review if you can :)**


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